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MUSCLE INSIDER

By: Scott Welch BASc (Nutrition), CAAP (Advertising)

Back in the early 90s, I fell in love with a hardcore bodybuilding magazine called “MUSCLE MEDIA 2000″. It was unlike anything I’d ever read before its time. The magazine took an honest approach to training, diet, supplements and even covered steroids! Yes, the dreaded “S” word. There was NO censorship. Articles were written for the bodybuilder that was indeed “hardcore” but may or may not have been using steroids. The mag catered to guys that didn’t have the genetics to be Mr. Olympia, but were still in search of effective methods to take their performance to the max. They recruited top writers like:

• Dan Duchaine (now deceased)
• T.C. Luoma
• Charles Poliquin
• Stuart McRobert
• Will Brink
• Paul Chek
• Shawn Phillips
• Dr. Michael Dullnig (now deceased steroid authority)
• Anthony Almada
• Michael Mooney
• Dr. Scott Connelly
• Sue Daniel (brilliant editor that didn’t get much of the credit, but put much of the magazine together)
• Bruce Kneller
• Rehan Jalali

UNCENSORED INFORMATION

At that time, FLEX, MUSCLE & FITNESS, MD, IRON MAN and others didn’t really cover steroid use, yet many bodybuilding fans were well aware of their use. I’d even venture to say that “some” of these fans were steroid users themselves! MUSCLE MEDIA also provided readers with uncensored training info that you couldn’t find in any other magazine. Programs that worked for guys not necessarily on steroids. I’m serious when I say that you could read one training column, apply the learnings that night in the gym and see a difference in your performance immediately! The REAL difference from other magazines was that these programs actually worked for guys like you and me - guys that weren’t pro bodybuilders. With diet articles, they cut through all the crap and taught you what you really needed to eat to make the best progress possible. There was no contest coverage. There was no gossip of who slept with whom or who got signed by which magazine empire. No way! Every issue was packed with bodybuilding “secrets” that made it a learning manual, not just another bodybuilding rag…

MUSCLE MEDIA & EAS

I should have mentioned that the magazine was owned by a guy named Bill Phillips who was a marketing genius! Along with his brother (Shawn), sister (Shelly) and father (Bill or “BP” as he was called), he built the magazine readership to have a cult-like following. During this time, he also owned a little supplement company you may have heard of, it’s called EAS. Yes, the same EAS that you now see in virtually every health-food store in the world! As time went on, the magazine audience grew larger and larger and EAS supplement sales grew higher and higher.

LIVING THE HIGH LIFE

Bill now owned several Lamborghini cars, was dating Playboy bunnies, hanging with celebrities and living like a total rock star! He also started supplying local NFL players on the Denver Broncos with EAS supplements. Players from the Denver Broncos like Shannon Sharpe and John Elway were on EAS supplements. Athletes were seen in TV interviews with EAS products in their locker and had logos on their clothing! Athletes later wore EAS earrings and gold neck chains to get around NFL rules on what could and couldn’t be shown on TV. Phillips was always one step ahead of everyone!

TIME CHANGES EVERYTHING

Bill Philips dominated the bodybuilding magazine and supplement industry amongst the seriously hardcore. But sources close to Bill say that he wanted to get everyone in America in shape, not just bodybuilders. So he started to remove some of the “edge” to the magazine. Steroid writers were let go or were just asked to write only about “mainstream” fitness topics. Photos shown in the magazine now had to be more “artistic” and not bodybuilding focussed. Science-backed articles were still present, but were geared to the couch potato and not the hardcore bodybuilder looking to put an inch on his arms! Of course, there was a method to his madness. Bill knew that there were many more average “everyday” people in America than there were bodybuilders. But he was also secretly looking for a buyer for the empire he created….

1999: North Castle Partners Buys EAS & MUSCLE MEDIA

In 1999, Phillips sold part of his company to North Castle Partners for 160 million dollars! He then concentrated on writing and promoting his books through a publishing company he started called High Point Media. By this time, MUSCLE MEDIA as a magazine was totally unfocussed and had lost its identity. Once a magazine with Arnold on the cover, it now featured men wearing leather pants on the cover! Old articles were recycled and more new writers were brought on and as a result, the “core” bodybuilding audience fled. Then Editor-In-Chief T.C. Luoma jumped ship to partner up with a guy named Tim Patterson to start an online magazine called “Testosterone” (now known as “T-Mag”). Some MUSCLE MEDIA readers followed T.C. to this new website, but many didn’t…

2004: Abbott Laboratories Buys EAS & MUSCLE MEDIA

While MUSCLE MEDIA at its peak had a distribution of 500,000 copies per issue, the change in direction alienated many traditional readers, and sales numbers reportedly declined sharply afterwards. The once “hardcore” bodybuilding magazine finally ceased in 2004 after Abbott Laboratories bought EAS & MUSCLE MEDIA for 320 million dollars and the company decided to shut the magazine down completely! One insider told me that all the old photos, articles, and all other intellectual property are still sitting in the offices of Abbott Laboratories but the company has no plans of doing anything with them in the near future. It’s been 6 years now and I’m told that situation will likely not change.

November 23, 2009: Supplement Genius Scott Welch Tries To Buy MUSCLE MEDIA?

Yes, on November 23, 2009 I actually contacted Susan Wendricks of Abbott Laboratories and tried to buy Muscle Media and all trademarks, images, content, URLs etc. associated with it. I was prepared to pay several million dollars for all of it as I felt there was significant equity still in the brand and that the return of this incredible magazine would make a huge impact in the bodybuilding industry. Unfortunately, nobody from Abbott Laboratories got back to me…

March 4, 2010: Supplement Genius Scott Welch Launches MUSCLE INSIDER

Imagine bringing the same writers from the original MUSCLE MEDIA back for one last show! Yes, a chance to invigorate the sleepy bodybuilding magazine industry! If you could then combine these legendary writers with the best writers on the current bodybuilding scene, you’d have the greatest writing lineup imaginable. Partner up with only the best physique photographers in the industry and choose only their best pictures. Next, you must prevent large advertisers from dominating the magazine and accept only a handful of ads each issue so that the readers get content and not just a bunch of ads! Add in a huge social media component and Podcasts and you’d have a bodybuilding community I’d wanna be part of … and I bet you’d wanna be too! Get ready because at this year’s Arnold
Classic in a 40 foot booth, bodybuilding will change forever!

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